Throwback Thursday: Nostalgic Video Games

While I know this is my writing blog, I also know it’s foolish not to write about myself as a person sometimes as well. And that’s what these Throwback Thursday posts will be for: to get to know me a bit better, and look back on my life as I’ve lived it so far.

Today’s topic? My history with video games.

Video games are a great place to get ideas in writing, and I still play them plenty, but my gaming isn’t nearly as intense as it was when I was young. I had started playing video games often at a friend or relative’s house: my cousins, for example, or the regular Super Smash Bros competition held at my neighbor’s condo in elementary school. Of course, I had my own gaming systems as I got older. It started with Sega, and moved on to Nintendo… Well, you get the drift of things, right? I evolved into various types of gaming.

As I was decluttering recently, I found two old games that were two of my favorites of all time as well. I’ve had three or four cartridges of Pokemon Crystal, and I’m not sure which one I found- it could be one of the defective ones if I forgot to throw them out, or if it’s a working version. Here’s a rundown of my history with it.

The first one I lost as a child. The second one I lost during a move. The third one kept eating my saves as I started them. The fourth worked like a charm, and was my prized possession for a long while.

The other game we found didn’t have that same sort of history, but it’s dear to me nonetheless. The game was Car Battler Joe- a game I played through time after time without getting bored. And, to most people’s surprise, the game is just as the name implies: it’s battling with decked out cars. Well, that’s just part of it though. It’s actually an RPG, I think. It’s just an RPG with a lot of racing the clock and trying to avoid getting shot at… And a storyline that made me cry.

It’s times like this, while thinking fondly of these games, that I think of my other most treasured games that I still hold dear. I never did manage to beat Evolution Worlds- it wasn’t quite what I wanted, but I couldn’t stop trying nonetheless. It would’ve been better if I’d been able to get a dreamcast and the two versions that were molded into the one I had for GameCube, that’s for sure.

The other game that comes to mind… well it’s two, actually. Harvest Moon as a franchise is dear to my heart. My first one, thus one of the most special, was A Wonderful Life. It wasn’t the best, but it was amazing to elementary school me. Then I got hold of Magical Melody, which had a very different style of both gameplay and graphics. It was so chibi and cute! I wish I could pinch the characters’ cheeks. To be fair, I feel that way about Linear from Evolution Worlds too… Why were games so especially cute back then, anyway?

To this day, I play games on a regular basis. Right now, I’m mostly playing Stardew Valley and a rather random game called 100% Orange Juice. One is a farming sim right up my alley, and the other is… Think Mario Party on a sugar high.

What were your favorite games growing up? Tell me in the comments- I’d love to learn about you too, you know!